Vladimir Putin accused the West of being “satanic” and “the main destroyer of traditional values” in 2022. Two years later, Moscow named 47 countries responsible for “destructive ideologies”.
On Friday, the Russian Cabinet approved a list of 47 countries with policies that “impose attitudes that contradict traditional Russian values,” according to RIA/Novosti. Portugal is one of the countries on the list, along with countries such as the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Germany and Ukraine.
The note published by the Russian state agency simply says: “List of foreign states and territories that apply policies that impose destructive neoliberal ideologies and ideological attitudes that contradict traditional Russian spiritual and moral values.”
It is not new that the regime led by Vladimir Putin defines itself as a defender of “traditional values”, especially the “spiritual and moral” aspect, an argument that it has even used as one of the reasons for the advances in Ukrainian territory in recent years.
In a report on Russian society published in 2022, five points are highlighted in the section on traditional values: the preservation and strengthening of spiritual and moral values, ethnic and religious diversity and unity, protection of family and childhood, patriotic education and preservation of historical and cultural heritage. Regarding the first point, they explain that the concept began to gain importance with the “natural expansion of Western values” and the formation of a “consumer culture” on Russian territory.
Since then, the focus has been on promoting these values by incorporating them into different sections of the Russian constitution and “strategic planning documents,” including cultural policies and national security plans. In 2021, traditional values were established as core values in the constitution and Putin instructed his government to fund the production of children’s films and study tours to movie theaters with the aim of propagating these ideologies among young people.
In 2022, seven months after the start of the military operation in Ukraine, the Russian president, during the official annexation of four Ukrainian provinces, told the population that Western values tend towards a “radical transition”, where there is a denial of moral norms, religion and family customs. In addition, he accused the West of being satanic and of being the great destroyers of traditional values.
In November of the same year, the decree “Fundamentals of state policy for the preservation and strengthening of traditional Russian spiritual and moral values” was adopted, with the aim of instilling in legislation the necessary tools to guarantee the “preservation and strengthening” of these ideologies.
The Russian message has been clear: Western values are clearly at odds with traditional Russian values, whether due to the growing secularisation of governments or the rise of what is seen as the “LGBTQ agenda” (Putin describes gay rights groups as an extremist organisation). According to the Russian leader, Ukraine was beginning to enter the orbit of Western values, which justified the “liberation” of ethnic Russians from “socially decaying” territories in Ukraine.
Source: Observadora
